1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of tensioning rollers or winders used particularly for adjusting and maintaining the tension and/or orientation of the strands of a belt, for example in a motor vehicle internal combustion engine.
Such rollers are used, for example, with timing belts or belts for driving accessories.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Tensioning rollers generally include a pulley rotatably mounted on a non-rotating pin or shaft that can be displaced radially so that the pulley is caused to apply the appropriate tension to the belt with which it is in contact. The radial displacement of the pin or shaft can be adjusted by a screw mechanism. In order to reinforce the protection and sealing of the roller, typical tensioning rollers include a cap mounted on the rotating part of the pulley by snap-fitting it into an annular channel formed in the pulley. However, if it is then required to orient the shaft to fasten it to the support, this operation can prove very difficult owing to the small available space generally present between the roller and the support and owing to the lack of visual references for the angular indexing of the shaft.